


Judgement day

by tran_quill



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2019-02-10 04:32:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12904125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tran_quill/pseuds/tran_quill
Summary: "The eye was in the tomb and kept looking at Cain." (Victor Hugo)





	Judgement day

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by "Cain" a story by Fredric Brown

Reek's heart lost a beat as he woke in a cold sweat. A muffled noise crept through the door, the friction of their walk. As if he wouldn't hear them approach. He scuttled to the corner, trying to sink into the wall. What was left of his nails scratched and scratched desperately, but there was no issue. 

He began to shrill _Reek Reek Reek_ to make sure they heard that he knew his name.

He scarcely slept last night because the boys delighted in waking him up in terror. Today was the day they will drag him to the dungeons to be whipped and racked, they promised. Today was the day they will skin him like an animal. _No, no, no, nooooooooooo_. He began to panic and run along the walls like a rat, turn after turn.

The hatch went up and light caught him so he stopped in his tracks. He gasped, unable to breath, eyes bulging. _Maybe it's_ Him, _finally_... Suddenly he crawled to the door and kneeled wringing his hands, crying while mumbling some nonsense.

The older man let the hatch down. « It can last for hours, he said, and it's the same everyday ». Tom followed him back along the gloomy, dimly lit hallway, to another massive door. The room beyond was better lit, but still dreary. The two men sat. 

« Now that you've seen this one, you understand where you are, ain't it ?  
And he's not aggressive. Before I go I will show you the three that will kill you as soon as you turn your back on them. »

He stood up. 

« What do you want to drink ? » 

Tom thought about the long night of work before him. 

« A coffee please. » 

The machine belched out a plastic cup.

He gulped the tepid substitute quickly under the dreary, buzzing neon.

The aged orderly took a flask from his scrubs. He was still slightly drunk from his retirement party.

« How old is he ? 

\- Forty. 

\- Only forty ? He looks like a very old man. 

\- He's been here for twenty years. 

\- Why don't they give him something to sleep ? Or put him in a straightjacket ? 

\- They did. I knew the doctor that stopped them from doing that. He told me that as soon as they released him or let him regain consciousness he self-harmed. He would tear the skin off his fingers, then cut the finger with his teeth. »

Tom nursed the empty plastic cup nervously. 

« He castrated himself. With broken glass »

The plastic cup collapsed between his hands.

« Why would a man inflict this on himself ? 

\- Guilt. That's what the doctor told me. He was a foster child. He tried to belong with the family, but always felt an outsider. As a teenager he began doing drugs. A night when he was babysitting his younger foster brothers, he fell asleep while smoking weed. The house went up in flames. He succeeded to exit, but the boys died in the fire. »

« Since they let him alone, he stopped mutilating himself. He's just terribly, terribly afraid. All the time.

\- Why do you call him Reek ? He must have a name ?

\- You ask me ? You'll know when you'll step into his room. He still likes to smear himself with his own shit. You'll learn to just left the plate and fly by. Anyway he doesn't need much care. His name is Theon Greyjoy.  But don't call him that, you'll scare him even more. Call him Reek, always Reek.

\- Why is he so terrified all the time ?

\- Punishment. He even invented the man who will punish him. He thinks he is a prisoner in a castle, in a grisly dungeon. He's waiting for the man who flayed his fingers, cut them and gelded him.  Of course there's nobody, it's all in his head. That's why he's been so afraid night and day for twenty years. Every day, he thinks today is the day Ramsay Bolton is coming back. »

The new retiree slid the empty flask in his pocket and concluded:

« Now I'll show you the three killers before I go. I don't want to miss the last Kingslanding express. »


End file.
